cnn's emily schmidt now from washington. emily, so is the president optimistic a last-minute deal can be reached? he came out late yit yesterday with another suggestion. >> reporter: that's right. they were his parting words before he left washington for hawaii. he put out a scaled back plan. he said it was an achievable goal. this morning, we heard from house speaker john boehner who was talking about can you avert the fiscal cliff. in his radio address he says hope springs eternal. yet, you listened yesterday, and it's clear the divide between them is very large still, indeed. >> in the next few days, i've asked leaders of congress to work toward a package that prevents a tax hike on middle-class americans, protects unemployment insurance for two million americans, and lays the groundwork for further work on both growth and deficit reduction. that's an achievable goal. that can get done in ten days. >> the president's solution of raising tax rates would still be red ink for as far as the eye can see, and it would hurt jobs